Paolo Mancasola set a new career-high with seven assists last Sunday against Northern Arizona. (Wayne Tilcock)

Nov. 19, 2012

Game #3

UC Davis Aggies (0-2)

at

Sacramento State Hornets (3-0)

Nov. 20, 2012 - 7:35 p.m.

The Nest (1,200)

Internet Stream: americansports.com

Radio: KSAC (105.5 FM)

Internet Audio: ucdavisaggies.com

Live Stats: ucdavisaggies.com

OPENING TIPSThe newest chapter of the Causeway Classic will be written Tuesday evening when the UC Davis Aggies make the trek to The Nest to face the Sacramento State Hornets for the 111th time. The winning team will earn an additional 10 points in the Causeway Cup, an all-sports competition born during the 2004-05 season, that involves each of the schools' 17 common teams.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SACRAMENTO STATEUC Davis trails 64-46

TRULY A TEAM EFFORTAggie men's basketball would like to thank all fans who participated in last Sunday's food drive. All proceeds will be donated to the Food Bank of Yolo County to help local families in need. Individuals who are interested in volunteering for, or donating their time and/or items to the Food Bank of Yolo County are encouraged to visit www.foodbankyc.org.

LISTEN LIVE TO UC DAVIS MEN'S BASKETBALLFor the second year, all UC Davis men's basketball games will be aired on KSAC (105.5 FM) . Pregame begins 30 minutes before tip-off, Scott Marsh will call the play-by-play with Bill Herenda providing analysis for most contests this season. All games will also be streamed free of charge on www.ucdavisaggies.com.

FOLLOW ALONG WITH LIVE STATSLive stats are available for all home and most UC Davis games by visiting www.ucdavisaggies.com. Media are advised to select "Media View" on Gametracker for stats updated the quickest while covering home games.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!Season and single-game tickets for Aggie home games can be purchased through the "Tickets" link at www.ucdavisaggies.com, in person at the UC Davis Ticket Office, or by calling the ticket office at (530) 752-1915.

A CLOSER LOOK AT SACRAMENTO STATESacramento State is 3-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, and is outscoring its opposition by an average of 18.3 points per game. The Hornets began their season by defeating UC Merced and CSU Bakersfield, and returns to action against the Aggies after upsetting Utah on its home floor last Friday. Sophomore guard Mikh McKinney and senior forward John Dickson are the Hornets' highest scorers at 16.3 ppg, and are two of three players who are averaging double-digits this season. Sophomore guard Dylan Garrity is averaging 15.3 ppg. Combined, the trio is responsible for 56 percent of the total number of points scored by the Hornets.

BRYNTON LEMAR INKS NLI WITH AGGIESBrynton Lemar, a 6-foot-3 guard from St. Augustine High School in San Diego has signed a national letter of intent to join the UC Davis men's basketball program. Throughout his three years at St. Augustine under the tutelage of head coach Mike Haupt, he has led his team to victories in more than two-thirds of its games played. With Lemar in the lineup, the Saints have compiled a 59-30 overall record.

Lemar averaged 25.0 points per game throughout the 2011-12 season for a St. Augustine squad that finished with a 23-7 overall record and advanced to its California Interscholastic Federation section quarterfinals for the third consecutive season. Shortly after his junior campaign concluded, Lemar was the only member of his team to earn a coveted spot on the All-Western League's first team.

During his sophomore season, the combo guard averaged 22.0 ppg and helped his team advance to the quarterfinals after posting a 23-7 mark. He averaged 15.0 ppg throughout the 2009-10 season, his first as a member of the Saints' boys basketball program.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDSEven though he fell one point shy of recording his second double-double in as many games, Ryan Howley's 10-rebound effort against Northern Arizona in the Aggies' home opener last Sunday was strong enough to maintain his position as the Big West's top rebounder. Howley's 11.0 rebound per game mark is seven-tenths higher than UC Santa Barbara's Alan Williams 10.3 rebounds per game figure.

SECOND-YEAR STANDOUTAfter his first two games as an Aggie, Corey Hawkins is quick building an argument as one of the Big West's best players as the sophomore guard leads all players with his 21.5 points per game average. He also possesses a conference-high 2.50 steals per game, and is tied for fifth with a .917 success rate at the free throw line.

THEY COULDN'T STOP HIM OR CONTAIN HIMCorey Hawkins connected on half of his 20 shots, and made all but one of his nine free throws against Northern Arizona last Sunday to lead all players with 30 points. In only his second game as an Aggie, the sophomore guard became the first player since Eddie Miller posted 35 points at UC Riverside (Feb. 26, 2011) to score 30 or more in a game.

SYPKENS SETS CAREER HIGHSOn his 9-for-13 shooting performance, including seven baskets made from three, Ryan Sypkens set two new career high in the Aggies' home opener against Northern Arizona last Sunday. Sypkens scored 25 points against the Lumberjacks, beating his previous best of 22 last set against Cal State Fullerton on Mar. 5, 2011. It was fitting that the basket that broke his previous career high was a three, one of seven made that afternoon from distance to set another new career mark. Sypkens' previous high last took place on Nov. 13, 2011, at San Diego State, when the junior guard made five baskets from behind the arc.

DROPPING DIMES ALL OVER THE COURTRyan Sypkens was not the only player to set a new career-high against the Lumberjacks as Paolo Mancasola ended his day with seven assists, one more than his previous mark also set at home against Cal State Northridge (2/9/12) last season.

ROAD WARRIORSLast Sunday's game against Northern Arizona is the only occasion that fans will have to watch the Aggies play in the month of November as the team will begin its string of three straight road games this Tuesday at Sacramento State. The Aggies will travel to Reno to face the Nevada Wolfpack on Nov. 28 before ending its trip in Moscow, Idaho, against the host Vandals. UC Davis' next home game is slated for Dec. 5 against San Jose State. Beginning with Tuesday's Causeway Classic, seven of the Aggies' next nine non-conference games will take place away from The Pavilion. The Aggies will also open their Big West schedule on the road at UC Irvine in early Jan. before enjoying its first opportunity to host consecutive home games of the season.

READY TO PLAYIn the Aggies' season-opener on Nov. 9, at Oklahoma State, Ryan Howley earned his first career double-double by finishing with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Howley's previous best of nine rebounds was originally set on Nov. 21, 2011 vs. Bryant.

MAKING THE MOST OF A FIRST IMPRESSIONThe Aggies' season-opener against the Cowboys also marked the first appearance in a UC Davis uniform for sophomore guard Corey Hawkins. Forced to sit out he 2012-12 season after transferring from Arizona State, Hawkins scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed three rebounds in his Aggie debut.

ALSO MAKING THE MOST OF A FIRST IMPRESSIONA true freshman guard, Darius Graham also turned in a solid performance throughout his 24 minutes of action in his first game as an Aggie. Graham finished with seven points and five rebounds, and also led all Aggies with four assists.

WAITING IS THE HARDEST PARTFor two Aggies, the start of the 2012-13 season could not arrive fast enough as Corey Hawkins and Justin Dueck will now have the opportunity to take the floor for head coach Jim Les. A transfer who arrived to UC Davis last year, Hawkins was unable to compete due to NCAA rules and regulations, Dueck was a redshirt during his first year on campus.

NBA PEDIGREESUC Davis features two players whose fathers have played in the NBA. Tyler Les is the son of head coach Jim Les who spent seven seasons in the NBA, including four with the Sacramento Kings; Corey Hawkins is the son of former NBA sharpshooter Hersey Hawkins who is currently an executive with the Portland Trail Blazers.

A NEW TWIST ON A UNIQUE SITUATIONThe 2012-13 season is the second opportunity for Tyler Les to compete for his dad, Jim. Unlike most father-son coach-player duos, it was T. Les that was the first to arrive to UC Davis. The junior guard first competed as a Aggie during the 2010-11 season, J. Les joined the team's coaching staff the following season.

POSSIBLE FIRST FOR THE PAVILIONThe UC Davis-Long Beach State matchup scheduled to take place on Mar. 7, 2013 is a wildcard game for ESPN2. If selected by the network, it will be the first nationally-televised Aggie basketball game from The Pavilion.

THE AGGIES ARE BACK IN THIS YEAR'S BRACKETBUSTERSUC Davis is one of 122 teams that will participate in the 11th-annual BracketBusters, a two-day men's college basketball event pitting potential NCAA Championship hopefuls against each other. Thirteen games from this year's event will be nationally televised on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. ESPN2 will feature five BracketBusters games, while ESPNU and ESPN3 will each house four games. The 13 BracketBusters matchups will be announced Monday, Jan. 28, with dates, times and networks. The televised matchups are selected by ESPN, while a Committee of Conference Commissioners determines the additional non-televised games.

BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Championship play, will provide the 26 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks before Selection Sunday. The 96 teams not selected for BracketBusters will compete against each other through the same two days.

The 122-team field will feature teams from 13 conferences, including all 10 Big West schools. As part of the agreement, all 13 of the BracketBusters home teams in televised games, as well as the remaining 58 home squads, will play a return game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2013-14 season.

BON VOYAGE UC Davis faced a number of top-caliber teams throughout its 10-day trip throughout Italy and France this past summer. Under NCAA rules, collegiate teams can make a foreign trip every four years. Nearly 60 Div. I teams made such excursions, a list that also included Big West counterparts Pacific (France, Aug. 10-20) and Cal State Northridge (Canada, Aug. 21-26). While overseas, the Aggies competed against Latina Basket, a member of the Italian B-1 League, a U.S. military team based in Camp Darby and a local professional team, Don Bosco Livorno, while in Livorno, Italy, Golf-Juan, a French National 2 team and Cagnes Sur Mer, member of the NM3 Division in France.The Aggies ended their trip victorious in four of their five games.

LES ASSEMBLES STRONG STAFF Head coach Jim Les went near and far when assembling his staff of assistant coaches. Kevin Nosek, a member of the Aggies' 1998 NCAA Division II Championship team, returns for his 11th year with the program. Chris Davis, who Les faced in the Missouri Valley while he was at Bradley and Davis at Drake, will start his second season with Aggies after spending three seasons in the Big East at Providence where he was the Friars' recruiting coordinator. Kyle Vogt, most recently at Western Illinois University and who has been a part of nearly 180 wins during his coaching career, joined the UC Davis men's basketball program as an assistant coach in July replacing Gus Argenal who is now at Rice. Mark Darnall enters the 2012-13 season, his second on the Aggie staff, continuing his role as UC Davis' first-ever Director of Basketball Operations after assisting Les at Bradley University as the team's video coordinator.

DANGEROUS FROM DOWNTOWNUC Davis junior Tyler Les, who canned 82 three-pointers last season including a school-record tying eight against San Jose State, was selected as No. 35 on CBSSports.com's preseason list of the top 50 shooters in NCAA Division I. Les, a 6-foot-2 guard from Peoria, Ill., ranked 27th among the nation's shooters in three-point percentage last season, making 41 percent of his 200 attempts. He was also ranked 45th in treys per game, averaging 2.7. Les was just one shy of the single-season Aggie record.

RITCHART RECOGNIZED FOR HIS RANGEJosh Ritchart, one of the top three-point shooters in the Big West Conference who made at least five treys in a game five times last season, has been named to the 2012-13 Madness Big West Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference second team by College Sports Madness. Ritchart led the team in scoring 10 times and either led or shared rebounding honors in 10 games. He averaged 5.1 rpg, double his average from 2010-11 when he was named the Big West Co-Freshman of the Year and was a Freshman Mid-Major All-American by CollegeInsider.com.

DISSECTING UC DAVIS' ROSTERIn addition to the seven newcomers to the program, six letterwinners also return to the team this season. Continuing their careers as an Aggie are J.T. Adenrele, Ryan Howley, Tyler Les, Paolo Mancasola and Josh Ritchart. Led by seniors Howley and Mancasola, this year's roster features five upperclassmen.

BASKETBALL IS BACK ON BIGWEST.TVFor the eighth year, all 10 Big West member institutions will air all home and conference matches on BigWest.TV. For the 2012-13 season, all BigWest.TV events will air free of charge. BigWest.TV brings together live and on-demand video from each of the Big West schools. BigWest.TV covers conference sports, press conferences, interviews and features, including every UC Davis home and conference game for both the men's and women's programs. Also covered are select contests in men's and women's soccer, baseball, softball, and Big West Championships.

UP NEXT FOR UC DAVISTaking the floor for the second time three days at Sacramento State, the Aggies will have a bit more time to prepare for Nevada, their next opponent. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, eight days will elapse before UC Davis continues its three-game road swing against the Wolfpack on Nov. 28. That contest will be the Aggies first against Nevada since the 2005-06 season.